vi and all Mankind. 101 



his life at Jerusalem? 1 Were those to remain 

 under the wrath of God for ever ? This is not what 

 he teaches. He asserts that the Israelites who have 

 rejected Christ are to receive mercy at last. " God 

 hath shut up all unto disobedience, that He may 

 have mercy upon all." And the answer for Gentiles 

 is the same as the answer for Jews. If salvation 

 is universal for the one, it is universal for the other. 



It is, however, very generally believed that in 

 the Synoptic Gospels our Lord teaches the opposite 

 of this ; namely, that for the rejected of the present 

 dispensation there is no hope whatever; not even 

 a hope that the vengeance which follows their sins, 

 may end their sufferings by ending their existence. 

 It is true that some of His sayings admit of this 

 interpretation ; perhaps, in view of the fact that such 

 has been the prevailing belief of all branches of the 

 Western Church from the time of Augustin until our 

 own, we must admit that it is their most obvious 

 interpretation. But, as we have seen, the obvious 

 and superficial interpretation is not always the true. 



The classical passage respecting judgment is the 

 description by Our Lord of His future judgment of 

 all nations, 2 when the merciful shall be rewarded 

 with eternal life, and the unmerciful punished in 

 eternal fire. But it cannot be meant as a full 

 account of the final destiny of man, because it says 

 nothing of the forgiveness of sins ; yet this is a 



1 Acts xxiii. 16 et seq. 2 Matt. xxv. 31 et seq. 



